261. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of post-primary teacher vacancies identified in each county in the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 school years, by subject; the number of positions remaining unfilled following an initial recruitment process; the number being filled by a teacher who does not hold the relevant subject qualification; and the number of subjects which schools have reported being unable to offer due to teacher recruitment difficulties. [66439/26]

This Government is committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning.

As of November 2025, there were 34,626 full-time equivalent teachers employed in post-primary schools across the country and over 99% of allocated posts were filled.

While the Department does not have the data for the number of unfilled post-primary teaching posts in the 2025/2026 school year, by subject, data published by the Department for the vacancies by subject, as well as subjects for which teaching posts were filled by teachers not registered to teach the subject, for the 2023/2024 school year is available through the Survey of Teacher Unmet Demand in Post Primary Schools 2023/24 report, at this link: assets.gov.ie/static/documents/f30264cc/Survey_of_Unmet_Demand_School_year_2023_24.pdf.

The table below shows the number of post-primary teacher vacancies identified in each county, using the latest published data from November 2025.

The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for individual school authorities, subject to procedures agreed under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012). In that regard, there are more than 3,700 individual employers (boards of management of primary schools and post-primary schools, as well as ETBs).

A number of measures have been introduced to address subject-specific teacher shortages:

- STEM Bursary: a €2k annual bursary for student teachers in STEM fields, including maths, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science and engineering, during the final two years of their undergraduate teacher education, with a requirement to complete at least 2 years of teaching post-qualification in a recognised post-primary school.

- Upskilling programmes: upskilling programmes for teachers are offered in high-demand subjects: Irish, French, politics & society, computer science, maths, physics and Spanish. These flexible programmes, free to registered teachers, boost teachers’ employment opportunities while addressing subject-specific teacher shortages.

To address teacher supply issues more generally, the Government has implemented several measures that have led to:

- an increase of 20% in initial teacher education graduates (student teachers) between 2018 and 2023, and

- an over 30% increase in the number of teachers registered with the Teaching Council since 2017.

My Department has recently published revised arrangements for the award of a Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID) to teachers; teachers taking up their first contract in a viable post will be eligible for a permanent position after one year, subject to successful re-appointment through a competitive process.

Recently regulations were approved to allow teachers who qualified overseas to undertake their induction in the State and incremental credit is also available to teachers returning from abroad, depending on the teaching experience gained.

A comprehensive workforce plan for the education sector, a commitment under the Programme for Government, is in development. Additionally, a project focused on strategic workforce planning for teachers in Ireland, led by UNESCO and supported by the EU Commission, has published recommendations for addressing the main factors affecting teacher supply in Ireland. The project report, which was launched on 7th September 2026, can be accessed online at the following link: unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000399288.locale=en.

Recommendations include measures focused on subject-specific shortages at post-primary, substitute teachers, special education, Irish Medium Education, DEIS primary, cost-of-living concerns, data management and diversity in the profession.